Beverages

Charleston’s history of imbibing is legend. Robert Rosen’s A Short History of Charleston includes a half-dozen entries about the city’s drinking habits; Charleston! Charleston! by Walter J. Fraser, Jr., is a social history of the city that portrays a hedonistic upper class and a debauched citizenry. Rosen quotes the historian Carl Bridenbaugh: “The importation of liquors at Charles Town in 1743 staggers the imagination—1500 dozen empty bottles, among other items, to be used for ‘six months’ supply’ of 1219 hogsheads, 188 tierces, and 58 barrels of rum.”